Everybody experiences a book differently, and every author experiences the telling of their story in a unique and personal way. I know I did. As I was writing “Sticks And Stones” every scene, every twist and turn in the story, and every moment of joy and sadness played out in my mind like a motion picture. The experience seemed more like watching a movie than putting words on paper. My wish was that readers, at least some of them, might experience the story in the same way.

Like every movie, the one playing in my head had a soundtrack. Classic songs from the late 1960s and early 1970s, the period in which the book is set, wove throughout the story, and several are mentioned in the book. But, there were other songs that formed the backdrop for many of the more emotional scenes, songs you've never heard before. They are original songs I wrote back in those days.

Yeah, I know... I was in high school and college at the time. How good could the songs be? Well, I'll leave that for you to decide. For me, they are as much a part of the story as the book itself. So, I have decided to record an album's worth of those songs with a release date of sometime in 2018. The album will be titled “Sticks And Stones”, same as the book. Along the way, I'll be releasing some of the songs as singles.

The first single is the one in the video—“October Nights”, released today. It's the only instrumental (no lyrics) in the bunch, and I've always thought of it as the “Sticks And Stones” theme song. For me, it captures the emotional ups and downs of the story.

I recorded “October Nights” with bare-bones instrumentation—just me playing the piano and strings. I gave some thought to fancying the recording up with a full orchestral arrangement, but that's not the way I've heard the song in my head. Sometimes in music less is more.

The recording should be available at iTunes, Spotify and Amazon and all of the streaming services by the end of the week (12/08/17). It's available today for download here. If you like it, please add it to your playlists and share it. Autographed copies of “Sticks And Stones”, the book, are available now. Just click “Books” in the menu at the top of this page.

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